Tyler Cowen on Talent 8/15/22 

I'm a German living in the US, and I watch every Tyler Cowen episode on 1.5 speed.

love tyler cowen you definitely believe in young ambitious people that are changing the world

🌹Ace

Regarding how not everyone is going to Harvard, any thoughts on income-share agreements.. where investors pay the tuition in order to get a return when you graduate start working? Would love to hear Steven Levitt's opinion on this too! The best take I've heard on meritocracy is from Daniel Markovits. He suggests this emphasis on everyone going to college, prepping kids early and often for academic achievement, is not creating the type of society we want/need. I like the idea that emotional/intellectual talks are best done side by side (as in walking) than face-to face! Finally, can't remember the podcast, but I recall it saying that unless it's a very technical position where you are asking specific questions to verify aptitude, then most job interviews are a waste of time. They don't help in predicting who is going to be a good employee.. like if they're asleep or awake, if they have curiosity/stamina (not exactly grit), knows the right hierarchies to be climbing, role-models/mentors, earliest age when you attempted to do something, etc. BTW, regarding how asking what you agree with the consensus is (in addition to what do you believe that others don't), it kinda reminds me of moonshoots, where the type of research that should be funded are left-field ideas, in which the only if the crazy theory works, will the experiment work! I recommend John List's interview with Russ, where he talks about how things are tested under perfect conditions, which explains why they fail to replicate. A petri dish is fine for a plausible proof-of-concept, but the experiment should have messy, imperfect inputs to check for a strong signal!